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Caribbean Sweet and Sour Mango Chicken

As I have mentioned somewhere before, when I lived for 3 years in the Caribbean (in Port-of-Spain/Trinidad), I too, like many of the other ‘diplomatic wives’ on this Island, went for a couple of weeks to a charming old Chinese Lady to learn the basics of ‘Chinese-cooking-with-a-wok’. Her name was Suzie Wong! Yes, film buffs of course will immediately connect this name with the very beautiful young actress Nancy Kwan, starring in her first film “The world of Suzie Wong”.

Wok cooking is so quick and easy to do – then why did I put this onto my kitchen back shelf for quite some years once we had left Trinidad, I kept asking myself. Maybe because I had nearly worn out my own Wok in those wonderful three years – and of course, living on the Island with its multi-racial population, who did not like Chinese food???

So now that I started writing easy to follow (I hope) recipes for elder daughter, living away from home, and her friends, my Wok has come into his own again – certain weeks with a vengeance!.

So here now a recipe which includes two of our favourite main ingredients – Chicken and Mango. I found this scribbled down note in my box of loose “Recipes from around the world” and immediately I decided late at night to make this for today’s Lunch.

Combine all the above mentioned ingredients in a jug incl. the cornflour, which will slightly thicken the sauce. Set aside.

Heat up your Wok (or large frying pan) on medium flame, add oil and after 1 minute also the prepared chicken. Quickly brown the meat for maximum 3 minutes (keep stirring). Transfer with a slotted spoon into a small bowl and keep aside.
Into the same oil add the shallots and the ginger, stir for a couple of minutes only, after which you add your sauce and the mango.
Bring gently to the boil and continue simmering for another 2 minutes.

With this particular dish we like to alternate between long-grain basmati rice and Chinese noodles.

🙂🙂 – thank you Conor – I certainly try my best. Doing this in the very first instance for our daughters who now have to cook for themselfs and their friends, I like to keep it as simple as I possibly can – they all hate cookbooks and find most of them complicated (?)

I have been in Trinidad and Tobago several times. They call me Tobagonier (ha,ha,ha). My favorite was flying fish in the morning and busupshot in the evening. Your mango sweet and sour looks like Indian/Chinese.

Lucky you, having been visiting there many times. Would love to go back once more to see how the place has changed!🙂 I passed on the flying fish for breakfast. And since I learned the original dish from this lovely chinese lady! – I am not surprised it looks somehow Chinese🙂🙂. You remember the local expression “….. Callaloo of everything…..?